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hello and welcome to "news room international." we are going to take you around the world in 60 minutes. here is some of what we are working on. those relentless fires continue to burn across huge areas of southeastern australia. lance armstrong at the center of controversy again this after reports that he tried to give $250,000 to an anti-doping agency. first president obama making another cabinet pick. the president will nominate white house chief of staff jack lew to replace timothy geithner as treasury secretary. tell us about jack lew. >> jack lew is the chief of staff known as a tough negotiator, someone who the

president has complete trust in. in fact, when he was announced as the white house chief of staff the president talked about the trust that he had in him, talked about how he had taken a part in helping to right the ailing economy. this is also someone who has worked in a couple of administrations as the budget chief in this administration and the clinton administration and helped to cut the 1997 balanced budget deal. so the white house sees him as someone with a lot of experience, ready to take on some of the big challenges over the treasury department as we are facing the so-called mini cliffs, the big one, the debt ceiling, something he will have to deal with right away. >> when is the formal announcement of the nomination expected and another partisan fight down the road? >> very well could be. we have been trying to nail it down. all we have from sources is that

it will happen sometime this week mptd not certain if that is tomorrow or friday or over the weekend but it will happen sometime this week. we have seen already in other nominations that the president has put forward that there has been a pushback from republicans and democrats to the nominee. unclear how the lew nomination will go. i think by all accounts everyone believes that he will be able to get confirmed. but there are concerns not only from wall street but all the way to main street that he doesn't have the experience needed to tackle the big challenges ahead. >> thanks for that. let's bring you in. timothy geithner being with the president from the beginning they have faced financial hurdles together. still facing that $16.4 trillion debt ceiling coming up. why is the white house so sure jack lew is the man?

>> because he is a budget guy. he has seen it is in surplus and deficits. there is no surprise that timothy geithner, the last remaining holdout of the original circle of economic experts is happy to be moving on to the next thing. he has been serving through a lot of crisis after crisis. and now jack lew does not have time to measure for drapes at the treasury department. he is going to have to get right down to business negotiating a very tough debt ceiling deal. one of the things that you hear on wall street is that he will be easily confirmed why he is a safe choice by the president. some folks on wall street, republicans mostly, saying they are slightly concerned that he doesn't have more financial market experience and more business experience. he is a budget guy. we live in an era of budget wars so that is a plus.

>> what does he bring that geithner doesn't or does he? >> geithner knew the bankers and knew wall street and how the financial markets work. geithner was a very long, long followed the inner workings of the international markets. lew is seen as a real help on issues of the european debt ceiling so he does have that breadth, as well. just a slightly different background and more budget focused background. >> christine romans with the latest. another big talker at the white house is the national debate over guns. it is front and center from the white house to the governor's mansions. vice president biden meeting with victim's advocacy groups. he leads the panel to reduce gun

violence. new york governor is expected to propose new gun regulations in his state of the state address in the next hour. and we will have a chat with piers morgan who has found himself under fire in the debate. joe biden says he is listening to all sides in the debate. >> i want to make it clear that we are not going to get caught up in the notion unless we can do everything we are going to do nothing. it is critically important we act. and there are certain things i know a great deal about almost all of the organizations. i have read what you have published and spoken to. and there is a pretty wide consensus on three or four or five things in the gun safety area that could and should be done around this table. you should know that tomorrow i have also invited the gun owners

and the nra to come and make their case, as well. >> well, to help us set the stage through all of this i want to bring in jeffrey toobin. the gun lobby says this is all about the second amendment. where is the legal line between the so-called individual right to bear arms and government responsibility to look after people? >> well, michael, i am going to give you a ringing i'm not sure to that answer because the supreme court has not really classified th clarified this. in 2008 the supreme court said there is a constitutional right under the second amendment to possess a hand gun in your home for self protection. how does that apply to larger weapons? how does it apply to weapons outside the home? how does it apply to background checks for the purchase of

weapons? these are legal questions that remain open now. it is probably true that assault weapon bands would have no problems constitutionally. because the supreme court has really changed the understanding of the second amendment and people can read it on the screen or at least they could, that is a level of legal uncertainty as well as the political uncertainty about how this debate will be resolved. >> we have the vice president holding the meetings this week working on recommendations to try to reduce gun violence. the president says he wants stuff on his desk this month. other things the president can do by executive order wants he gets recommendations or does it go through congress? >> there are certain matters around the edges that are president can do himself but all the big decisions have to be made by congress. is there a restriction on buying assault weapons? there was an assault weapons ban

in this country for ten years. people disagree about how effective it was but the president caninate reinstitute the ban by himself. congress needs to do that. there have been certain suggestions for restrictions on ammunition, restrictions on selling bullets. that is in congress's hands. it is mostly a congressional decision here and the president is going to have a very tough fight on his hands because there is a very strong lobby against any gun control and some members of congress don't believe it in. >> governor cuomo wants to make gun laws tougher. he has the state of the state address expected to call for fightening the state's ban on assault style weapons and he says the law has more holes than

swiss cheese, that is his words. it estimates 300 million guns in the country. what can a governor do to try to control gun violence? put limits on gun ownership? >> governors can do a lot in terms of banning the sale and even possession of certain kinds of weapons within their state. the problem with guns, if you believe in gun control is that guns are portable. one point that mayor bloomberg has made is that many of the guns that are used to commit crimes in new york city were purchased in virginia and north carolina and states that have very lax rules. yes it is true that states can do a lot to restrict gun purchases in the state but in terms of stopping violence which is what most people care about more than simply possession of guns is very hard to do

something on a state by state basis. national the solution is the only one that would work. piers morgan has interviewed with radio host alex jones, a hot topic on social media. piers joins us on the phone. what do you hope to see come out of the meeting about gun violence? >> it is time that american politicians woke up to the reality of what is happening in their country. the last four mass shootings in america all involved deranged young men using assault rifles. these are killing machines. they have no place on civilian streets. the politicians can hide behind all sorts of rhetoric about the second amendment and the right to bear arms but no one can

convince me that fathers wanted disturbed young men in america can go to wal-mart or equivalent and buy one of these guns and go to a movie theater or a church or a temple or down the street and gun down fellow americans. these politicians have been cowered for too long and it is time they stood up and said enough. >> when it was written it took ten minutes to load a gun, as well. let's go back to the interview and the buzz it is creating. we look at it as an outsider's perspective and some people are shocked by what they see. you say jones' rant back fired. one twitter follower agrees with

that. he says i think he meaning you handled him perfectly. i thought the same thing when i was watching the interview. did you feel that it did back fire on him? >> i thought it was the best with the gun control i could possibly have put on air. i think it represents a very influentialal gun lobby in america. this is a guy who believes that president bush and his administration ordered the 9/11 disaster. you are talking with people who are scary in their thought process. and they believe any formal gun control is attacking the second amendment. he wanted to fault me which was against my first amendment rights. you and i come from countries

that both suffered in the mid 90s big disasters. and in both countries there was such national outrage and the view from the politicians of the country, in your case a right wing politician. and really significant gun control was brought in outlawing all forms of assault weapons and most hand guns and in australia you haven't had a mass shooting since 1996. and in britain we have had two much smaller mass shootings but not a single shooting at a school and a gun murder rate of out 35 people a year. in america 11,000 people are murdered with guns a year. 18,000 take their own life with guns a year.

100,000 americans are hit by gun fire a year and every time one of these massacres happen all i hear is the gun lobby saying don't touch our guns. sorry that is what a humane society does. it says these assault rifles are killing americans. there is no reason for them and we are going to take them off the street. i applaud for governor and president obama for doing something about it. this is about removing machine guns from the streets of america. >> reading online the australian papers today and your encounter made the news down there as it did in great britain, as well. are you surprised by the

ferosity of the debate? >> the sandy hook massacre is one of the worst mass shootings in modern history. 20 school children murdered by a deranged young man whose mother had six is weapons at home knowing he was disturbed and he took those weapons and committed an atrocity. if you can't do something about the gun magnets in america after something of that magnitude. i think it is good it is trending on twitter for 36,000. it is good that people see his rant and it is good that people see the ugly side of the extreme elements of the gun lobby in america because they have had their way far too long. this is not about taking away an

american family or parent's right to have a gun at home to protect themselves or a family. that is what the second amendment is about. it is not about these killing machines. and nor is it about magazines as in the case of the shooter in aurora. that is why he was able to kill so many people. then there are other issues involving the reduced funding for mental health and the gun sales in america having no background checks. it is absolute lunacy. it is time congress stops hiding in herrer herrer -- terror. >> good to talk to you, my friend. morg piers morgan on the line. and thanks to jeffrey toobin for

talking about this. tonight larry pratt will go one-on-one with piers tonight. it is being called the biggest mass shooting of animals on record in kenya. elephants slaughtered for their tusks to feed the demands of a growing, still growing illegal ivory trade. [ male announcer ] where do you turn for legal matters? maybe you want to incorporate a business. or protect your family with a will or living trust. and you'd like the help of an attorney. at legalzoom a legal plan attorney is available in most states with every personalized document to answer questions. get started at legalzoom.com today. and now you're protected.

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a huge prisoner swap is underway in syria. the government releasing more than 2,000 syrian and turkish

prisoners. in return 48 iranians were released by revels. ivan joins us from turkey. what is interesting is the iranians were saying these were religious pilgrims. 48 for 2,000 would suggest otherwise. >> reporter: i mean, the iranians were saying these were pilgrims going to a site in damascus when they were captured. the rebels saying some of these were card carrying members of the revolutionary guard corps. >> it's a huge victory for us and for the revolution and it is a huge victory for the people. we exchanged 2,130 hostages from that regime. those people are our families,

kids, women. civilian people. >> reporter: so you can see the revels are spinning this as their victory even though it was basically a turkish charity organization, some of the more than 2,100 syrians who were released at least 70 of them were -- >> lost the signal there with ivan. but very interesting that they are involved there and whether they will or will not be involved in other negotiations in syria. she is just a teenager forced to marry a 70-year-old man. a shocking story out of saudi arabia bringing to life a troubling trend. we will be right back. into a scooter that talks to the cloud?

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welcome back. human rights activists expressed outrage over a marriage in saudi arabia. a 70-year-old man wedding a 15-year-old girl after paying $20,000 for her. saudi arabia's human rights commission told cnn a divorce had been granted in this case. spent a lot of time in saudi arabia. tell us more about this and how people in the region reacted to this. because old men marrying young women is not legal. >> reporter: that's right. i spoke a short while ago with the head of the human rights commission in saudi arabia and

he said a divorce has been granted. he said a teen was dispatched to the small village, they spoke with the girl, her family and the husband and resolved the dispute. this divorce will be registered with the court and this dowry will be returned to the husband. the husband claimed he had been ripped off. he said he paid this money and because of that this girl when she left the marriage house that was going against the marriage contract. he was outraged because of that. that man had also claimed that the girl was 25. the human rights commission said she is 15 and the girl never wanted to get married and wanted to escape the husband and now the marriage is final. >> this caused a huge amount of outrage. a hash tag was created on twitter in which they were

expressing how horrible it was that this was allowed in saudi arabia. it is a country where there is no minimum age for marriage. until an age is established and legalized child marriages like this can continue. >> while it did outrage people in saudi arabia and outside, it does happen. is there any appetite for a change in the law or a law that would stop such things? >> reporter: there is a huge appetite for changing the law. there is a growing number of people in saudi arabia, civilians, human rights activists saying there needs to be a reform when it comes to the law, that the justice ministry needs to enact a law that would legalize age of marriage. the problem you have is there are these extremely conservative blocks of the clerical establishment that oppose setting a minimum age for

marriage. because there is such heavy opposition it is hard to pass this into law. even though there is a growing movement you have people trying to block this and you will see these child marriages can happen. there is a growing amount of outrage in saudi arabia and it is a big deal but these kinds of marriages can actually happen and happen more frequently than the kingdom would like to admit until such legislation is enacted. >> mohammed jamjoom there covering that nation. the family of a retired fbi agent who disappeared in iran almost six years ago has released photos of him in captivity. they show him in an orange jump suit holding various signs, one of them read, why you cannot help me. the family spokesman said the

photos were received 18 months ago because they haven't seen enough progress in the case. his family says he was working an a private investigator looking into cigarette smuggling when he went missing on a business trip. the fbi has offered a million dollar reward for information leading to his safe return. it is now confirmed that chavez will not be attending his inauguration. tomorrow is the big day but the 58-year-old president has been undergoing cancer treatment in cuba. so he can't take the oath of office in person. that has been raising questions about his legitimacy. the constitution isn't clear on whether the president can be sworn in on another day or who should be in charge in the meantime. the ruling has been issued by the supreme court there. he did leave for a fourth cancer surgery in cuba last month.

he has since been battling a severe lung infection. the supreme court just in the last hour or so saying the inauguration can be postponed which is a window of opportunity to his many supporters. the opposition said that wasn't legal. the court has ruled. a four-month heat wave in australia has sparked massive bush fires. we will look at how climate change is wreaking havoc down under. stay with us. ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] some day, your life will flash before your eyes. ♪ make it worth watching. ♪ the new 2013 lexus ls. an entirely new pursuit. the new 2013 lexus ls. so if ydead battery,t tire, need a tow or lock your keys in the car,

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you need an ally. ally bank. your money needs an ally. to volunteer to help those in need. when a twinge of back pain surprises him. morning starts in high spirits, but there's a growing pain in his lower back. as lines grow longer, his pain continues to linger. but after a long day of helping others, he gets some helpful advice. just two aleve have the strength to keep back pain away all day. today, jason chose aleve. just two pills for all day pain relief. try aleve d for strong, all day long sinus and headache relief. dry weather fuelling hundreds of fires in new south

wales. you can hear it there. a change in wind direction has brought temperatures down just slightly. the fires coming on the heels of australia's worst heat wave on record. during the last four months of the year the average daily temperature is 104 degrees all part of a general global warming that does include the united states. 2012 the hottest year on record in the continental u.s. chad myers joining us now to talk about how the record-breaking hit and feeding the australian fires. my family has been telling me it is ridiculous. >> you have lived there many years. it burns. australia does catch on fire. but the problem with this is that we had temperatures almost reaching 110 in some spots. the weather service in australia had to adjust their color table because the forecast didn't go high enough. now they have a new color,

purple. it means really darn hot. we had a very wet season when it was supposed to be wet and things grew like the grass and then the rain stopped kind of like the rain stopped in america with our drought. when the rain stopped it got hot. so you have all of that grass, all of that beautiful grass out there and it is now drying up. in the dry up and the heat it is now just a forest fire, a wildfire waiting to happen. darwin 98. it is summer. this is the other side of the world so temperatures are warm there. 99 alice springs not that unusual. here is the map. that is the new color that australia had to put on their weather map on the key above 50 degrees celsius. you can do all the math you want but that is over 110 or 120 degrees there in the central part of australia. we did have a cold front that cooled the temperatures down a

little bit and helps the firefighters. 13,050 square miles of fire from the beginning of 2012. let me give you an idea of 2012. australia is about 30% smaller than america. but australia in 2012 had 880 square miles burn. the united states had 14,400 square miles burn in the same amount of time and australia is only 30% smaller. this number is tremendously bigger in the fires they had in north america because of the drought and the heat that they had there. the drought and heat caused the warmest year on record for the united states. every spot in red a new record frat hottest event of every year recorded. july 2012 was the hottest year on record of any month we have recorded since we have here.

>> growing up and aging surfer from australia we grew up with a hole in the ozone layer over top of us and skin cancer and that is part of the deal when you grow up down there. the whole movement with the u.s. and australia and elsewhere is the talk of global warming. what do you think the debate is at now? where do you think the debate is at? is there a debate? >> the science is so ov overwhelming. the parts per million of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has never been higher. that is proven. carbon dioxide holds in heat. that is proven. if you have something never higher holding in heat it is going to warm up the globe. it has to happen. the thing is can we do anything about the numbers going higher? the issue i have is ten years ago until now our cars are producing 50% less pollution but

there is twice as many cars on the road. you are not gaining anything. even though we are trying to do the best we can we are not getting progress with the amount of carbon dioxide being pumped into the atmosphere. what can we do? what if we had a million machines that could disassociate carbon and oxygen and it sparked and the carbon would go out and the oxygen would go out. it just seems overwhelming. >> thanks for depressing me. >> i'm sorry. >> i think you are absolutely right. it is a tragedy. there are countries pumping stuff from factories and elsewhere into the atmosphere because they think it is their turn and the u.s. has had its industrial revolution and others get a chance now to pollute. we could go on but we shant. >> we will another time. a whole family of elephants slaughtered for their tusks.

the price for asia's lust for ivory.

wild life officials say it

is the biggest mass shooting of animals on record in kenya. a gang of poachers slaughtering a family of 11 elephants and hacking off their tusks. the animals the latest victims caught up in the growing illegal ivory trade. this happened to the national park home to several thousand elephants. i don't know about you, a lot of people might have thought wasn't the ivory thing done for? the poachers were caught, they stopped the trade. it is illegal but no. >> for a long time during the 80s and 90s we saw a drastic decline in poaching of elephants and rhinos. 2011 was confirmed -- i have been working on this issue with the world wild life fund. 2011 saw the largest increase and the largest amount of wild life and elephant poaching in

the last few decades. it is no longer the individual poachers that are going through and killing these elephants in order to feed their families. this is part of very sophisticated organized crime syndicates spending a lot of money. they have attack helicopters and ak-47s and assault rifles and better equipped than rangers trying to protect the animals. it is growing because it is worth so much money. it is relatively easy money mostly from southeast asia. and it is also supporting conflict in areas in africa and also supporting organized crime and terrorism organizations, as well. >> it is big business sadly. last week i think it was hong kong's customs confiscated almost 800 elephant tusks worth

almost 1 had the $4 million. besides hong kong seizures have been made mainland china, philippi philippines, vietnam, thailand. what is causing the demand for the ivory? when you look at that it is only $1 million. that is a lot of dead elephants for $1 million worth of ivory. where is the demand? >> one of the big issues is there is still demand for trinkets on the mantle pieces. many people will probably be surprised to learn that last july in new york city $2 million worth of ivory was confiscated in one of the largest busts out of two antique stores in manhattan. it is an issue of demand. >> it is a cultural thing, too. what is being done to sort of change that? >> it is a cultural thing in southeast asia.

it is also a demand issue for people buying what they think are antiques here in the united states. there is a lot of efforts on the supply side of increased enforcement. organizations are waking up to the importance of the issue but trying to do education. buyer beware. when you buy a trinket to place on your mantle piece it is a beautiful carved ivory you are supporting organized crime, terrorism and driving animals towards extinction. that is starting to gain traction in southeast asia. the growth of the middle class in places like china that feeds demand for, say, shark fins, is allowing more and more people to afford these types of luxury items. it is a display of wealth. the key is for governments to step up and engage in enforcement and education to help people understand the true cost of what they are doing. >> exactly.

before we leave i want to show people an idea of where the elephants live in africa. we have a graphic we can show you. you can see where they live there in red. as you know the elephant population is shrinking. rate of poaching going back up again is it conceivable it could can wipe out certain populations all together? >> it is absolutely conceivable. there is a great deal of concern that by the middle of the century there may be no large herds of roaming elephants. that is very possible. the sophistication of these organizations with attack helicopters -- imagine flying in helicopters and ten men shooting elephants and hacking off tusks and flying off before rangers can respond. the sophistication is incredible. we have to step up our game if we are going to allow a future

of elephants for our children and for the future of this planet which i think is certainly something that is a goal. >> indeed. they are hard to catch these guys because of the vastness of the areas. >> very, very difficult. the rangers are outgunned and outmanned. it is very hard. we can do better and we should do better. >> always good to see you. >> thanks. always a pleasure. lance armstrong at the center of controversy again. this comes after reports that he tried to give $250,000 to an an anti-doping agency. clear, huh? i'm not juice or fancy water. i've got nine grams of protein. that's three times more than me! [ female announcer ] ensure clear. nine grams protein. zero fat. in blueberry/pomegranate and peach.

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try capzasin-hp. it penetrates deep to block pain signals for hours of relief. capzasin-hp. take the pain out of arthritis. check this out. a representative for lance armstrong reportedly tried to donate a quarter million dollars to the u.s. anti-doping agency. the head of the agency told 60 minutes sports he was, quote, stunned by the offer made back in 2004. and in a wide ranging interview with scott pelley he said armstrong threatened his fellow riders to keep them quiet. >> was lance armstrong personally involved in intimidating these other riders

to keep them quiet? >> he was. it was tough. all of these witnesses were scared of the repercussions of them simply telling the truth. >> what could lance armstrong do to them? >> incinerate them. >> alex thomas joins me from london. these allegations against armstrong keep on coming. now he is going to sit down with this interview with oprah later this week do you think he is going to admit to doping? >> it is a do and die for lance armstrong. he knows that his entire future both personally and professionally rests on getting the right message across. he was finally stripped of the record seven tour de france

tit titles. we saw the face and language he used in relation to the intimidation tactics armstrong used while not only instigating the most professional and systemized doping cheating program in profsional sports and trying to cover it up afterwards. oprah doesn't have the reputation of the most fierce interviewee but lance armstrong has a real task on his hands if he is to convince the american public that he is a victim in this because he is just about the best drugs cheat in the history of sports. >> i am going to get you to pull out the crystal ball. it's game over for him really. what does he hope to game from this? it is not like he is going to get his career back. >> we have been speaking in one of our other studios to the "new

york times" writer that first wrote that he was a drugs cheat. he has always denied that he ever took drugs and he said it was an attack. her suggestion was that he wants to compete again. he is 41 years old but misses running in the new york marathon and competing in triathlons. that shows how pathetic a figure he has become that he is holding on to the hopes of a sporting career in his 40s well past his peak because he has no other atlas. he had to sever all ties to the live strong cancer charity because the damage. he is sure to make some sort of confession. whether or not he will admit everything is highly unlikely because so many people are

pursuing him for money after the false way that he earns that prize money. >> good to see you, my friend. prostitutes preparing for the world cup in brazil. the ladies of the night, their trade is legal there and they have an industry work offering english lessons for free just to keep business booming. we'll be right back. ♪ hi dad. many years from now, when the subaru is theirs... hey. you missed a spot. ...i'll look back on this day and laugh. love. it's what makes a subaru, a subaru. [ male announcer ] how do you make 70,000 trades a second... ♪ reach one customer at a time?

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do you speak english? the answer will soon be yes to prostitutions. they are being offered free english classes ahead of the 24-day world cup. i don't know where to begin. a bit of a bold step. prostitution is legal in brazil. i suppose this is good for business. >> reporter: absolutely. i talked to the president of this regional association of prostitutes. she was very pragmatic about the whole thing. she said look around brazil. the private sector is trying to take advantage of the big sporting events. the games will be played all over the country and so people are preparing their employees. why shouldn't? this is a profession, too. the members of our association will have to carry out financial

transactions in english and they have to learn a very specialized vocabulary that comes with the trade. >> i'm not going to touch that. we'll have to leave it there before we get into trouble. always good to see you. when we come back we will have a look at what is topping the charts in puerto rico. she keeps you guessing. it's part of what you love about her. but your erectile dysfunction - you know, that could be a question of blood flow. cialis tadalafil for daily use helps you be ready anytime the moment's right.

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you are watching cnn "newsroom." at least 57 people injured in a ferry crash in lower manhattan plus president obama is filling up his cabinet. he will nominate white house chief of staff jack lew to replace treasury secretary timothy geithner. wal-mart does an about face. the largest retailer said it was too busy to attend the meetings and said the company was taking part in monthly sales meetings. today wal-mart announced it will participate after all. the spokesman telling me, quote, we under estimated the expectation to attend the meeting on thursday in person so we are sending an appropriate representative to participate. one reason is wal-mart is the largest retailer.

it sells ar-15 style weapons like the ones used in newtown, connecticut. wal-mart does not release how much it sells but many analysts say it is likely the world's largest gun seller. vice president biden says he wants to hear from all sides on the gun policy debate. today he is meeting with gun safety organizations. biden leads a panel working on recommendations to reduce gun violence and he promises their work will lead to action this time. he said the shooting that killed 20 first graders in newtown, connecticut, she said that was a turning point. >> i have been doing this a long time. i can't think anything has touched the heart of the american people so profoundly as seeing those young children

being shot. it's -- every once in a while something awakens the conscience of the country and that tragic event did it in a way like nothing i have seen in my career. >> every once in a while although it is an event that happened just weeks and on the heels of other similar tragic events. breanna joins us live. how important is it for the white house to be inclusive in the meetings to hear from all sides? >> reporter: it is very important because politicly this is such a tricky issue. in the past there has been no appetite for congress to take up this issue that they need to get some buy in. if they are going to be successful in doing some sort of wide ranging approach to deal with gun violence it is going to take threading a needle between gun rights and gun control.

right now you heard vice president biden, the news he made is that the administration will pursue some sort of executive action and legislative action is needed but saying there will be an area for the white house to do something on its own. that could be having to do with the buying and the selling of weapons. following the arizona shooting that was something that the administration did that they actually in the background check process they tried to tighten that up. we heard from michael bloomberg who said with the stroke of a pen president obama would be able to make sure that that is improved even further that more agencies are sharing information about who is mentally ill. there are privacy issues andlytandlyte -- lawsuits will get in the way of this. it is involving congress and the

biggest thing that they think they will be able to achieve with the least resistance is closing the gun show loop hole where so many people can purchase weapons without a background check. the white house wants for congress to pursue the assault weapons ban to ban high count magazines or clips as you may know them. definitely the perspective of the white house is that legislative action is needed but they may have room to go their own way on some things. >> emotional joe biden says this time it will be different. thank you so much for that. i want to talk about piers morgan. he is in the middle of the fierce gun violence debate. he has been talking about it almost every night since the shootings. his interview with alex jones has blown up the twitter verse.

>> 11,000 people are murdered with guns a year. 18,000 take their own life with guns a year. 100,000 americans are hit by gun fire a year and every time one of these massacres happens all i hear is the gun lobby saying don't touch our guns. sorry. we are going to touch some of your guns because that is what a humane society does. it says these assault rifles are killing americans. there is no reason for them. we are going to take them off the street. i applaud michael bloomberg and governor cuomo and president obama and biden and the others for getting what most decent civilized americans want. it is not about taking away hand guns to defend families. i get that. that is what the founding fathers intended on the second amendment. this is about removing machine guns from the streets of america. >> later this hour we will play more of that interview with

piers and tonight larry pratt goes one-on-one with piers morgan. that is tonight live. some gun rights advocates are worried about the rush to pass tighter gun control measures. they immediately go to the worry about taking guns away. republican senator says that is not the only answer to mass shootings and says it is important to protect americans' rights. >> we have a constitution and we need to guard our freedoms. whether you are talking about gun rights, your smacking right up to the second amendment. video games, mental health issues you are talking about the first amendment in terms of freedom of speech. these are difficult issues to grapple with. i am concernedt that they will try to rush this thing through within a month. i don't think washington, d.c. is capable of solving this problem. new york governor holds his

state of the state address. he is expected to talk about ways to address gun violence, laying out a plan that could include new restrictions on assault weapons and these high capacity gun magazines. he is also expected to explain new york's recovery effort after superstorm sandy. president obama makes another cabinet pick. the president will nominate jack lew to be his next treasury secretary. he is the chief of staff. he has an under gradt degree from harvard and a law degree from georgetown university and is an orthodox jew. his first big hurdle is to tackle the nation's $16.4 trillion debt ceiling and spending limits coming up. dan lothian looks at some of the scrutiny lew will likely face. >> reporter: jack lew is a key washington insider but to people

outside the beltway he is somewhat of an unknown. the white house chief of staff poised to run the treasury department. >> he has helped strengthen our economy and stream line the government. >> reporter: but lew's past is being scrutinized from wall street to main street. >> more than anything wall street will view this as a doubling down of the current economic and fiscal policies from the obama administration. >> reporter: and an extension of the administration's get tough on wall street approach that has left the president trying to mend relationships with ceos. 2006 to 2009 chief operating officer at citi group where bets were made against the housing market. >> we are concerned that jack lew's connection to wall street

has harmed his vision for what makes america strong and that is a strong main street. and while his record is thin, his public record about what's necessary is not exhaustive. >> reporter: sharp questions being raised once again over testimony lew delivered in his 2010 senate confirmation hearing where he appeared to down play the impact of deregulation on the financial crisis. >> i don't believe deregulation was the proximate cause. >> reporter: and framed his knowledge of the issue raising eyebrows once again. >> senator, as when discussed i don't consider myself an expert in some of the aspects in the financial industry. my experience is as a manager. >> disavowel of deregulation is

what causes us very serious concerns for the possibility that he will be the chief financial architect and steward of america. >> reporter: lew's supporters point to the balanced budget deal and social security legislation in 1983. he is described as a tough negotiator, capable of tackling the so-called mini cliffs ahead and winning praise from one of the administration's biggest critics. >> jack lew is very smart. and i think that he understands a very great deal about government and the financial markets. so i think it is a sound nomination. >> reporter: a nomination he says that is likely to get through the senate. dan lothian, cnn washington. >> he will have no time to get used to his new office if he is confirmed because there is an awful lot to do. washington just keeps putting band aides on the fiscal problems. ben stein joins us with how he

thinks washington needs to break up the grid lock. plus a plan to protect kids against gun violence, a volunteer patrol posse. at least 57 people injured in a ferry crash in manhattan. now with a fancy coating that gives you a burst of wildberry flavor. now why make a flavored heartburn pill? because this is america. and we don't just make things you want, we make things you didn't even know you wanted. like a spoon fork. spray cheese. and jeans made out of sweatpants. so grab yourself some new prilosec otc wildberry. [ male announcer ] one pill each morning. 24 hours. zero heartburn. satisfaction guaranteed or your money back.

at least 57 people were hurt this morning when a ferry crashed into a dock in lower manhattan. two people are in critical condition right now. alison kosik is live at pier 11 near wall street. certainly a very scary moment for the commuters coming into the financial district.

>> reporter: what a scary ending to a ride that started in new jersey. this was a ferry that started at 8:00 a.m. out of the northern tip of new jersey and coming into here to lower manhattan. supposed to come in at 8:45. you can see where the ending happened. the huge gash in the hull is amazing. investigators are taking a look around including crime scene investigators. when the boat came in this is what the new york city transportation commission says happened. it appears that the boat tried to dock at a first dock, dock d and then missed it and hit it rather and then hit a second dock, a dock b and made what the commissioner calls a hard landing. if you talk to passengers they'll call it a crash landing. 57 people were injured, two critical. some of the passengers that we spoke with said they were flying through the air. one woman i talked with said she

remembered only flying through the air and waking up on the ground and a woman shaking her. this is what a lot of other passengers said. we talked to some of them. >> it was a sudden crash. everybody was standing forward and people were thrown forward. >> basically it was 60 to 0. i don't know how fast we were going. the boat usually slows down a little bit and people get up and that is what the problem was. when we hit the dock everybody went flying. that is why we have so many injuries. people got thrown down the stairs and that is when most people got hurt. >> i was actually sleeping. people were catapulting forward. >> i was standing up and i went backwards and hit chairs and then people landed on top of me.

it was normal approach, just a sudden crash. >> reporter: such a scary way to end a commute. one passenger i talked with said the biggest problem here that caused the biggest injuries in this incident was that a lot of people as the boat was getting closer to the dock, a lot of people were standing up eager to get off the boat so they stand up. the problem is this is a two floor ferry where there is an upstairs and down stairs. on the staircase people were lining up and that is when that crash happened. and a lot of the people came tumbling down the stairs. the c street is part of a private ferry system that provides high speed service for commuters that come into manhattan. this particular boat can go up to 44 miles per hour. we are not sure how fast the boat was going. we have learned that the c street has been involved in

several other accidents in the past. the ntsb is on the way with the investigation team. >> alison kosik thank you so much. the u.s. hit the debt ceiling and is only about two months before it must raise the borrowing limit or risk a default on the bills. what should the country do. ben stein joins us next with his answers and a weigh in on president obama's pick. rises hi. morning starts in high spirits, but there's a growing pain in his lower back. as lines grow longer, his pain continues to linger. but after a long day of helping others, he gets some helpful advice. just two aleve have the strength to keep back pain away all day. today, jason chose aleve. just two pills for all day pain relief. try aleve d for strong, all day long sinus and headache relief.

the 112th congress was the least productive congress ever. they fought about everything, the campaign, the fiscal cliff, you name it and now the 113th

congress is drawing battle lines over president obama's cabinet picks. the grid lock seems endless. no stranger to this ben stein. he was a speech writer and lawyer for president richard nixon. he is a comedian and has his own game show. the list goes on and on. ben, first of all, comedian is the most important hat you wear when we talk about the economic situation in washington. this debt ceiling is so not funny but why do i want to laugh and cry at the same time? >> because you have to laugh to avoid crying. the situation is hopeless. poor mr. lew just nominated it is a very prestigious post. i have been in that room many times. it is a magnificent office but he might as well burn himself up in it. there is nothing to be done about this budgetary situation. the deficit is going to grow and grow until it eats us all alive.

there is nothing to be done but accept things that are very uncomfortable. you have to laugh to keep from crying. >> congress for 20 years has only passed laws and made policies with an eye to getting reelected again. if you looked at congress as a stock 18% approval rating, least productive congress in history last year. they are just running up a bill. >> thomas jefferson predicted that the democracy would not last because politicians would vote to spend money in order to get themselves reelected. it is happening at a higher rate than it happened in the past. it is just a hopeless situation. we are going to finally have to have dramatically higher taxes on everyone, the middle class up to the rich and a dramatic cut in entitlements for upper and

middle class. it has to happen. it is arithmetic. it's real. >> i love arithmetic. i want to show you this. a new public policy polling survey. congress is less popular than head lice, cockroaches and donald trump. >> i don't get why anyone would vote for head lice or cockroaches unless it is a bug scientist. i like donald trump. i just don't get at all what anyone expects them to be able to do until they pull their heads out of the sand and say we have to do brave action where we risk not being reelected in order to save the country. are we brave enough to sacrifice our careers to save our country? we'll see. we'll separate who is brave and who is not. >> you don't get reelected by saying you will have to lower your living standards to pay for your living standards up to this

point. that might be the honest truth. >> but you might get reelected if you say we will give you a chance which will preserve this country for your children and grandchildren. that is the chance congress has to take. >> let me ask you about a not so funny fight. when you think about the things that i like math. i am a business person. i like to look at numbers. how many guns are sold. i like to look at it as a market. we only know background checks. background checks or a record number of background checks. what do you think about this gun deba debate? >> the antigun control lobby is so powerful it cannot be beaten. i don't think guns are the problem. i am sure i will get a lot of hate mail for saying this. i live in north idaho where every single person has a gun.

there is almost no gun violence. i live part of the year in los angeles, california where gun control laws are strict and there is an incredible amount of gun violence. i live part of the year in washington, d.c. there is a lot of gun violence. it has to do in my opinion with how much people are brainwashed. go sit in a movie and watch the previews of coming attractions and see how many involve guns. >> it is the glamourized hollywood treatment you think of picking up a gun. we like violence. this country likes violence? >> people are trained to like violence. also the video game is an incredibly bad influence. all these kids do is sit at a computer and kill imaginary people. i think the distinction between imagine and real is blurred.

the solution to my problem is to kill lots of people. >> do you think -- >> it's a horrible thing. it's not very funny. >> do you think the founders meant for the second amendment to mean for a high capacity clip? >> i'm not sure what they meant about that. again, i don't think that is the problem. almost everyone i know in north idaho has a weapon like that and it doesn't seem to be any gun violence up there. so i'm not sure that that is the problem. the problem is i think immature people being brainwashed by hollywood into thinking their moment of glory will come if they can kill einf people. >> it certainly is easy in this country for a damaged individual to wreak a lot of havoc. >> it is way too easy to get a gun. >> nice to talk to you. you're a funny guy and i can't

wait to hear what you have to say about the debt ceiling fo y follies to come. we will hear from andrew cuomo expected to lay out a plan for stricter gun laws in new york to make it the toughest state. anyone have occasional constipation,

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no flu shot yet? listen up. at least 43 states are reporting wide spread cases. in chicago ambulances are being turned away at jam packed emergency rooms. our affiliate reports at least six hospitals were forced to divert arrivals because e.r.s

were overflowing with flu patients. in allen town, pennsylvania lehigh valley hospital pitched a tent to treat all the milder cases of the flu. if you think you are safe because you had the flu shot listen to this. >> came to work today and as the day went on i felt progressively worse. this is the worst. i did get the flu shot. some of our other patients, too, that are testing positive did get the flu shot. >> boston mayor also declared a public health emergency there. there have been four flu related deaths since october 1 and 700 confirmed cases of the flu. the mechanical problems keep rolling in for boeing's 787 dream liner. the latest happened in japan today. an all nippon airways flight was

cancelled after an error message. on monday a fire broke out and yesterday a fuel leak cancelled another dream liner flight. not a good start for this very complex dreamliner aircraft. what is the company doing to rectify these problems? >> reporter: not a good start. the company held a conference call today to discuss the issues. they say the performance has been similar to the performance of the 777 when it first went into service and went on to say like any brand new plane there are issues. we have to work through them and move on. this is a big deal for boeing which has over 800 orders outstanding for the dreamliner and endured years and delays and problems getting the new plane off the ground in the first place. the bargain hunters are out. we are talking about a company

that made $3.5 billion in profit in 2011, on track to top 4 billion for 2012. just to put this in perspective it only accounts for about 7% of total orders outstanding. >> it is meant to highlight engineering in its finest. it has been interesting what a problem it has been. let's talk about drones going mainstream. what is this about? >> drone is a great marketing word. most of these are basically toy helicopters with cameras on them and a militalittle modern techn on them. cnn money took one for a test flight in the new york news room. this one is made by one of about a dozen. parrott says it sold over a half million of the gadgets most equipped with hd cameras and controlled with a smart phone

app for an average of about $300. it varies and depends on how sophisticated you want to get. the more expensive ones are designed for a variety of commercial uses including law enforcement, wild life research and real estate agents are using them for arial photos. of course, they can be a great tool for tv news. >> i was in the news room yesterday and what is that? it looked like a huge bumble bee. so, so interesting. thanks so much. we are waiting to hear from new york governor andrew cuomo. he is talking gun control. we will try to bring it to you live. america's toughest sheriff has a plan to protect kids from gun violence. his plan, a volunteer patrol posse to stand guard at schools. >> not a secret. i want everybody to know we are there and maybe the bad guys

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today as vice president biden holds gun violence meetings at the white house sheriff taking a very different approach. the outspoken sheriff of arizona's maricopa county has

started an all volunteer posse of armed men and women to patrol outside schools. >> reporter: volunteer posse patrols are already visible at some schools and many others should expect them later this week. >> it is not a secret. i want everybody to know we are there and maybe the bad guys will worry about it. >> reporter: sheriff joe arpaio says his armed posse school patrols will act as a deterrent. >> i think the posse, the sheriff has stepped up to the plate time and time again and filled a void in the community when it comes to security. i think it is a good idea. >> the posse will patrol schools mostly on the outskirts of maricopa county. some parents at one of them in anthem are just finding out about the new armed patrols and

have concerns. >> i cannot believe that something like this would be implemented without first speaking to the parents. >> reporter: the sheriff is quick to point out he doesn't need permission and many parents are thanking him for it. >> i think it is about time. >> makes our kids feel safer. >> having that in the school could greatly reduce the number of casualties if some psycho decides to try it again. >> reporter: the armed posse volunteers go through training similar to deputies. they will patrol outside schools unless they are needed inside. >> if they have to go into the school to stop havoc they are going in there. >> reporter: he plans to release more information to make skeptical parents and teachers more comfortable with the new posse patrols. a 5-year-old kid suspended

for pointing his finger at another student. >> i did it like this and said bang bang. >> he says mommy i was just playing with my friend. [ woman ] uh-oh.

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the third day of the preliminary hearings getting underway now. casey is outside the courthouse. what is the latest? >> reporter: well, christine, the preliminary hearing has now concluded. there was dramatic testimony today, more evidence that the prosecution is trying to present saying james holmes was fully capable of what he was doing. pictures that were recovered from his iphone, four of them taken several weeks before the shooting of the inside of the movie theater and of the outside of the movie theater at about midnight, at about the time that that shooting took place. perhaps most dramatic pictures inside his apartment of himself

with his hair bright red. he had black contacts in his eyes making him look very, very sinister. a couple of pictures showed him with grins on his face or his tongue sticking out. he was wearing some of the ballistic gear he wore. there were pictures of the explosive devices in his apartment to booby trap it. those bombs never went off. there was a dramatic photo of his bed and on that bed were an assault rifle, shot gun, all of his ballistic gear, his protective helmet, gas masks, really dramatic evidence that shows a lot of planning went into this. we had expected the defense to call witnesses. they declined to do so even though there was a bit of a battle before the hearing as to whether they had a right to call witnesses to speak to james holmes mental state.

judge said he will rule on whether james holmes will stand trial this coming friday. >> what about the dating services? he tried to sign up for a couple of dating services in the months ahead of this? >> he actually did. two online dating services. and on both of those sites according to detectives he posted the question, will you visit me in prison? why do they bring that up? clearly to show that he knew the consequences of his actions. >> the mood in the courtroom and his demeanor in particular, what was it like? >> reporter: the mood in the courtroom today was a little more subdued than it had been especially yesterday when the 911 calls were played. family members were very emotional when that testimony was played. not so much today. some family members say that

they saw james holmes smile when these pictures of his apartment and pictures of himself with the bright red hair were displayed. i frankly did not see that. i didn't have a great angle looking at him. family members say they saw a smile or a smirk. overwhelmingly throughout the three-day hearing james holmes has remained expressionless, emotionless, saying nothing, doing nothing, pretty much looking straight ahead. >> thank you. in oklahoma school officials suspended a 5-year-old boy for making a gun gesture. >> said the kid had been mean to him and he made a finger gesture. >> i did it like this and i said bang bang. >> i said were you being serious. he says mommy, i was just playing with my friend. >> that incident happened days after the mass shooting.

when our local affiliate reached out to the school she said each school is different. piers morgan weighs in on vice president biden's efforts to combat gun violence. hold on, prilosec isn't for fast relief. cue up alka-seltzer. it stops heartburn fast. ♪ oh what a relief it is!

cnn's piers morgan has talked about gun control many times since the sandy hook

elementary massacre that killed 20 children, took the lives of six staff members. today he spoke about what he thinks about the vice president's task force on gun violence. here is more fromt that interview. >> it is time that american politicians woke up to the reality of what is happening in the country. the last four mass shootings involved deranged young men using assault rifles. these are killing machines. they have no place on civilian streets or in civilian hands. the politicians can hide behind all sorts of rhetoric behind the second amendment and the right to bear arms but no one can convince me the founding fathers ever meant for a situation for a disturbed young man to go to wal-mart or equivalent and buy one of these machine guns and go to a movie theater or a school or church or temple or down the

street and gun down fellow americans. that is not what the second amendment is supposed to protect. these politicians have been cowered by the nra and the gun lobby for too long. it is time they stood up and said enough. >> let's talk about the balx jones interview. you're english and i'm australian. we look at it from an outsider's perspective and some people are shocked by what they see. you have say jones' rant about despots taking away guns back fired. he says i think he meaning you handled him perfectly, sat back and let alex make his own noose. i thought the same thing when i was watching the interview. did you feel that it did back fire on him? >> honestly i possibly have

put on air. alex jones represents a very extreme -- very influential, very vocal gun lobby in america. he rants like this every day to millions of americans, most of them who believes what he says. this is a guy who believes president bush, his administration, ordered the 9/11 disaster, for example. you're talking with people who are scared in their thought process. and they believe that any government that wants any form of gun control after the massacres is attacking the second amendment and he wants to deport me, which would infringe my first amendment rights which is ridiculous. you and i come from countries that both saw in the mid-'90s, big massacres. 35 dies in tasmania, 16 in dunblane, all still children. in both countries there was such national outrage and a unanimous

view from the politicians of the countries, in your case right wing politician, john howard, in britain, first john major and then tony blair, so right and left, and really significant gun control was brought in, outlawing all forms of assault weapons and most handguns. and guess what? in australia, you haven't had a mass shooting since 1996. and in britain, we have had two much smaller mass shootings, but not a single shooting at a school and a gun murder rate of about 35 people a year, which i think is similar to australia. in america, 11,000 people are murdered with guns a year. 18,000 take their own lives with guns a year. 100,000 americans are hit by gunfire a year. and every time one of these massacres happens, all i hear is the gun lobby saying, don't touch our guns. well, sorry, we're going to touch some of your guns because that's what a humane society does. it says, these assault rifles

are killing americans, there is no reason for them, we're going to take them off the street and i applaud michael bloomberg and governor cuomo and president obama and joe biden and the others for finally, i think, getting what most decent civilized americans want. it is not about taking away people's handguns to defend their families. i get that. that is what i think the founding fathers intended by the second amendment. this is about removing machine guns from the streets of america. >> we don't know how many guns there are on streets of america. we don't know exactly how many guns are sold every year in part because we don't count them. we don't. the united states does not count gun sales. fbi background checks, you can see a record year for background checks, left side of your screen, 2.8 million in december alone, up 39% from the month before. experts say it is because of the christmas holidays and the rush after newtown. a lot of gun enthusiasts

thinking that something had changed in this country, and they wanted to load up on guns and ammo, you know, in case there are going to be controls down the line. the industry likes to point out there are 209,000 jobs associated with the gun industry with an economic impact $31.8 billion. the cost to society is $42 billion from gun violence. now, one of the biggest sellers of guns in the world, walmart, it is the biggest seller of everything. and it did an aboutface this week on meeting with vice president's gun violence task force. the nation's largest retailer said it was too busy to attend the meetings in washington this week. the company said executives are taking part in monthly sales meetings instead at the headquarters in benton, arkansas and there wasn't enough time to change the calendar. today, walmart changed its mind, it will participate. a spokesman says we underestimated the expectation to attend the meeting on thursday in person. so we are sending an appropriate

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some people are taking aim at hollywood right now accusing the film industry of making violent movies that help escalate gun violence in real life. ben stein just told us this

hour, here's cnn entertainment correspondent nischelle turner. >> reporter: explosions, gore, and gunshots. violence on screen is the bread and butter of the blockbuster machine. and blaming the industry for inspiring real life tragedy is as old as hollywood itself. but in the wake of the shooting in newtown, connecticut, as americans looked for answers, the head of the nra directly linked the tragedy to hollywood. >> there exists in this country sadly a callous, corrupt and corrupting shadow industry that sells and stows violence against its own people. >> reporter: action star and politician arnold schwarzenegger calls that accusation simplistic and inaccurate. >> you have to look at the gun laws. and you have to look at everything. every aspect of it has to be looked rather than just one thing. >> reporter: some stars came

together after the newtown massacre for an anti-gun public service announcement. >> for the children of sandy hook -- >> demand a plan. >> reporter: but the contradiction between hollywood's steady diet of onscreen shootouts and the gun control message in the psa brought out a backlash of critics. this youtube remix of the ad ridiculing the celebrities involved matches some of them with film clips where they're using a gun. the video has been seen and liked on youtube by hundreds of thousands of people. >> newtown -- >> reporter: but one actor in the psa doesn't want people jumping to conclusions about what he believes personally. >> it is important for me to do and an honor to do. i'm for guns. i own guns. and i don't think, you know, i don't think guns kill people. i think people kill people. much deeper issues into it. >> reporter: what is clear already is the most recent mass shootings have some in hollywood thinking differently about their professional choices. ben affleck is one of